Thai Coconut-Peanut Sweet Potato Soup

I’d say I’ve been recovering, but there’s not much recovering to be done from a lazy, relaxing, snowed-in holiday – one in which your mom does all the cooking, and you do all the napping.

Still, I think a 4 hour time difference and 13 hours of travel (including airport layovers and mechanical delays…) warrant a bit of recuperation in the form of sleep-ins and blog neglect.

I’m not one for resolutions. I am pretty steady person. I do, however, crave a hefty influx of vegetables as I get back into my normal cooking routine after a month of holiday gatherings, surprise birthday parties, baby showers and Christmas feasts.

Soup is my winter soul food – I make hearty, steaming, veggie-dense homemade soups about three times a week between November and March. I get the urge to share them all with you, but I risk this becoming a soup blog…

In January, I like the kind of soup that sticks to your ribs, no bread or other accompaniments needed. This one most definitely fits the bill, with hearty sweet potato, nutty peanut butter and creamy coconut milk. Jalapeño, Thai red curry paste, cilantro and lime juice provide heat and vibrance. Served piping hot, it’ll surely clear a head cold.

The nice thing about pureed soups is that you don’t have to be too perfect with the chopping – no careful dicing and mincing necessary, just a coarse run-through with the knife. I employ my pressure cooker to make fast work of tenderizing veggies – just 5 minutes to falling-apart sweet potato. It’s a kitchen goodie I highly recommend, if you didn’t get one for Christmas.

Garnished with fresh cilantro with some lime wedges alongside for squeezing, this flavourful soup easily wins as a first course at a dinner party. I enjoy it best, however, as a satisfying lunch to brighten up a few days’ worth of drizzly Vancouver afternoons.

Yum! We are totally soup twins–there is definitely something about these dreary Vancouver days that only homemade soup can remedy :) Question: What brand of Thai curry paste do you use and where do you buy it? I buy the Thai Kitchen brand but it always leaves me wanting–it’s not very flavorful or spicy and I therefore find that the tiny little jar doesn’t go very far :(

foodess

I buy mine at Kitsilano Natural Foods store (2696 W Broadway) – it’s a Thai brand, no English on it other than a sticker over top saying “Red Curry Paste” and the ingredients… it comes in a plastic tub, probably about 500 mL size… it’s really good!

http://twitter.com/lynneux Lynne Polischuik

I’ll look for it this week! Thanks :)

Tevajane

you can always add some dried Thai chilli crushed.

Jessica

Love your writing and your post! Thanks for sharing this recipe, it looks beautiful and delicious.

foodess

Thanks so much, Jessica!!

Deepika

Your wonderful blog is my go-to place at the end of long cruel weeknights. There’s nothing awesome-r than soup in winter and I loved this recipe, will recreate it when my current pot gets over. Please post at least a few more soup recipes, I am always craving for variety other than regular tomato-basil and chicken sweet corn!

foodess

Ok, if there’s a demand, I’ll do it! Hope this week’s nights are too cruel. :o)

http://twitter.com/stephmwise Stephanie Wise

This has everything I could ever ask for in a soup — and it looks so purdy, too!

foodess

Thanks Stephanie!

http://twitter.com/wvanillasugar Warm Vanilla Sugar

This has all my favs!! Love this soup!

foodess

Thanks, Katrina! :)

http://thisdustyhouse.com/ Nette @ This Dusty House

I stopped sharing food on my blog for a while because all I was making was soup. I love soup. You could probably go ahead and share all those soups here and I would still love your blog and probably make every single one of them.

I’m making this tonight. It looks amazing. I expect I will likely love it as much as I love your apple parsnip soup. (That’s a lot.)

foodess

Aww, thank you so much, Nette :)

There is indeed another soup post coming in the very near future…

Hannah

Made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic. So satisfying and such a great combination of flavors. Love love loved it.

foodess

You’re welcome, Hannah!! Thanks for coming back to comment! :)

Sis

Oh my gosh! We are cutting out white potatoes/white bread/white rice, and replacing them with sweet potatoes, whole wheat and whole grains, brown rice. Tonight, I wanted to see if there was a peanut-sweet potato combination soup and this is the first one I looked at. It’s almost exactly like one I tried back in 2008 with white potatoes! The difference is, I added a can of diced tomatoes and also did not puree (I like something to chew, usually).

I’m so excited to find your blog and looking forward to trying out some more of your recipes! I made this version tonight and it’s fantastic!

Kait

Amazing soup, wishing I would of only used a quarter of the jalapeno as it is hot hot hot. I was wondering if it can be frozen or if it won’t keep well in the freezer?

foodess

Oooh, too bad it was too hot!! Different jalapenos have different heat levels… to test, I touch the tip of my tongue on the white-ish rib inside…

I haven’t frozen it, but I imagine it would freeze well! If you try it, let me know :)

zee

found this recipe on pinterest and made it yesterday – I could eat this for every meal for a long time before I would get sick of it!! Thanks so much for sharing, glad to have stumbled upon this!

foodess

I’m glad you found me, and glad you enjoyed! Thanks for coming back to comment!! :)

zee

Just finished the last of it… probably going to make it again in a few days! :D

Ashley

This soup is just ‘melding’ on the stove and I had a taste- it’s gorgeous!

Thanks for sharing the recipe, it is really delightful and so spicy and warming.